A Colloquy on Books

Grace has just moved to San Francisco. She can communicate with computers better than she can with boys. She's out one day exploring the city with her brother and his friend when a monster shows up at the same restaurant as them. With the monster comes a girl that looks exactly like her. Grace's look alike battles the monster, killing him and leaving Grace wondering who this mysterious girl is. Gretchen has no family and never has had a family, her mentor is the closest thing to a family. Her mentor is missing. Gretchen has learned how to fight monsters from her mentor and now that more and more monsters are showing up around the city she has some questions but she has no one to ask them to. As Gretchen is fighting yet another monster she sees a girl who looks just like her. Gretchen works out with the help of the mystery girl whose name is Grace that they are two of the three triplet descendants of Medusa. Greer is from a super wealthy family and has a jam packed socia...

On the internet Torrey Grey is famous. Thousands of people watch her videos on beauty and fashion. Her world is as perfect can be, she has a cute boyfriend, a loyal best friend, her videos are popular, and she's getting kind of famous, on the internet at least. Just then does disaster strike, Torrey's sister dies in an accident and Torrey and her videos might be to blame. In an instant, Torrey's perfect world is in pieces.  Torrey and her family move away from their old place to try to move on with their life. In her new school, she doesn't know who to trust, queen bee Blair, who likes her only because she is famous on the internet, or Raylene who is unpopular but accepts Torrey for who she is? Strangers online are hating on Torrey and she can't seem to stay away from Luis, a boy whose family owns the local funeral home, a boy who tell her stories about El dio de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). As Dio de los Muertos comes nearer Torrey will have to learn how t...

Cody and Meg were inseparable, best friends, always together, and as close as you can get without actually being sisters. So when Meg drinks a bottle of industrial strength cleaner in a motel room alone, Cody is shocked. She doesn't understand how Meg, her best friend who used to tell her everything, did this without warning Cody. Cody is still dealing with the loss of her best friend when she heads to Meg's college town to pack up her belongings. When Cody gets there she is thrown straight into Meg's other life, a life she had with her roommates and the music scene of her town. A life with boys like Ben McAllister who break your heart. A life that Cody never knew about. As Cody is finding out about Meg's other life, she discovered an encrypted file, that she can't open and when she does everything she know will spin out of control. I Was Here  by: Gayle Forman made it on to my to-read list because of Gayle Forman's other two series, both of which by the ...

For thousands of years pegasi and humans have peacefully co-existed, communicating with each other, through pegasi shamans and human magicians. Each human is bound to his or her own pegasus on their twelfth birthday. On Princess Sylviianel, Sylvi for short, is bound, quite ceremoniously, to her own pegasus, Ebon.  But for whatever reason, Sylvi and Ebon  can  talk to each other. This communication threatens to destroy the peace between their nations. Will their communication actually break apart their nations or are they strong enough to hold them together? Pegasus  started out as nice and interesting, and it ended not as well as it started. I decided to read it because it sounded like a good book. The beginning was all fine and dandy, nice plot twists, good characters, and building of bonds. Then came the middle of the book, it got better, the plot started thickening, Ebon and Sylvi started facing their own troubles, and that means that they are...

Avery West has always believed that she has no family. But her family has found her, and her family just happens to be one of the most powerful ones on the planet. They can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace or they order a bombing when they want to start a world war. They are part of a powerful and secret society called The Circle, and they believe that Avery is a part of a prophecy. Some of them want to use her, others of them want her dead. Avery must unravel a trail of clues, to find the truth, which could send the world in World War 3. But that isn't the only closely guarded secret, the two boys helping her, Steven and Jack, both have secrets of their own, that their hiding. As her normal life crumples around her Avery will have choice to make that will change everything, maybe even the future of the world. If you asked me to you a short phrase that describes The Conspiracy of Us , I would say, "Thirty-nine Clues for teens." Basically you take the...

Clay Jensen comes home one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, lying on his porch. It has no return address, and Clay Jensen has no way of knowing who sent it. Inside the box are thirteen cassette tapes that have been recorded by his classmate Hannah Baker, the girl he had a crush on, and the girl who killed herself two weeks. Hannah tells Clay that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, she'll tell him how he made the list.  Thirteen Reasons Why  was on my to-read list for awhile and I never got around to reading it (probably because my to-read list is 400 books long). Recently I decided to start clearing my to-read list. Thirteen Reasons Why  was one of the thirty books I read. My favorite thing about Thirteen Reasons Why  was the way it was written. It is the only book I have ever read which is written with the main character having a back and forth with a recording. Hannah talks, tell...

Disclaimer:    This review is about the fourth book in the Selection.  This review contains spoilers to The One  by: Kiera Cass, you have been warned, proceed with caution. Princess Eadlyn Schreave has grown up on stories of how her mother, America Schreave, and her father, Maxon Schreave met. They are a fairytale, twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection of Prince Maxon, and won his heart, never to look back. Eadlyn has always found the story romantic but she wants to put off marriage as long as possible. But her life isn't always her own as she's a princess, and no matter how hard Eadlyn tries, she cannot escape her own Selection. Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance but as the Selected arrive, some entries may start capturing her heart. Finding her own happily after might not be as hard as Eadlyn once thought. Let me start by saying, I was really looking forward to reading The Heir , for two reasons. The first being I would fina...

Melody is different from most people. She can't walk, nor can she talk, but she has a photographic memory and can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. Melody has also been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but she is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her. She is smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom, the same classmates who put her off as mentally disabled. Melody is not ready to let that stop her, and she's going to find a way to tell everyone that Melody is not cerebral palsy, she is a person. There were two main reasons to me liking Out of My Mind . The first being Melody herself. I really liked the way Sharon M. Draper has created her main character. Melody expresses herself like a child while also expressing herself like an old soul. I found it very interesting and it made me love her so much more because of it. I feel like this combination of very clear of opposites coming out of the character made her feel...

I haven't posted anything for the last month because I was taking a much needed break and focusing on my education. For those of you who missed me, I've missed writing about the books I read, and I'm ready to come back! My next review will be posted on August 20th, 2015. I look forward to restarting my blog and I hope you enjoy!

Beka Cooper is not a Puppy anymore, she's a Dog. But things aren't going well, there's counterfeits out in the markets, merchants are raising their prices, and that's not good with the coming winter. Beka and her mentor Goodwin have to undercover but is Beka up to the job? 3 stars. Nimira is a music hall performer who is forced to perform in front of a bunch of leering drunks. Hollin Parry hires her to accompany a piano playing automaton. There's secrets in the air, a mad woman roams Parry's house and a fairy might be trapped in the automaton. 2 stars. Two sisters who will do anything in order to protect each other. Annie can't see the present but she can see the future. Fia can never do the wrong thing, her instincts are perfect. When the sisters are offered a place at an elite boarding school, they agree. This is no ordinary school as Fia realizes, this school does everything from choose stocks to plant bombs. They stole her past. They control...

Darcy has put her whole life on hold to go to New York to publish her teen novel. Lizze accidentally slips into the "Afterworld" in order to survive a terrorist attack. Darcy has a lot to learn about the writing world. Lizzie discovers that there are many stories that need solving in the "Afterworld," the world between life and death. She constantly wonders if she's made the right decision until she falls into a crowd of seasoned and fledgling writers. All of sudden Lizzie is faced with new threats she might not be able to overcome. One writes the words, the other lives them. I enjoyed reading Afterworlds  for two main reasons. One, I liked the fact that it took me into the publishing world through the perspective of a writer. I learned a lot about how books get published and also got "to see" how hard authors have to work before their book actually goes into print. The second reason I enjoyed reading Afterworlds . Before we to my reason, you ne...

Saba has always followed in her twin brother Lugh's footsteps, so when four cloaked men kidnap Lugh, she follows trying to save him. Soon she is forced to team up with Jack and the Free Hawks a group of revolutionaries. As she does she realizes she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. 4 stars. When Brontë starts dating Bruiser, her twin Tennyson isn't surprised but unnatural thing start happening, bruises disappear, scrapes heal too fast, and it seems like their good fortune but it may be more than they bargained for. 4 stars.  Princess Sylvi is bound to her pegasus Ebon on her twelfth birthday, for a thousand years before them the pegasi and humans have lived safely because of their inability to communicate without the help of magicians and shamans. Ebon and Sylvi can  talk. Will their friendship destroy the peace between the nations? 2 stars. Grace moves and starts seeing monsters and a girl who looks exactly like her...

Mirabelle's past is unknown, her parents are dead, and her guardians have forbidden her to return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to find some answers Mira runs away to Beau Rivage. Nothing is as it seems in Beau Rivage, a pale girl has a morbid interest in apples, an obnoxious playboy is a beast to everyone he meets and yet another guy has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life and are played out, again and agian. But fairy tales aren't always pretty and don't always end happily ever after. Mira has a role play, a destiny to embrace or fight.  Everything about Kill Me Softly  drew me in, starting from the title to the cover to the first chapter itself, (says a lot about my tastes doesn't it?). I really liked the way the story started without any wandering. What I mean is that Sarah Cross got right into her story without wasting time, she started with a purpose and delivered on the purpose. Another thing that I enjoyed was th...

The final installment in the Hush, Hush  series. Nora has gotten past a lot of troubles but the biggest one is yet to come... she has to win lead and win war or she's dead. 3 stars. Galen is the prince of the Syrena and he's on a mission to find a girl who can communicate with fish. Emma literally runs into Galen, when they both sense a connection. But it takes several encounters to convince both Emma and Galen of Emma's gifts. Galen knows she hold the key to his kingdom but can he convince her? 4 stars. Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer become friends and Lil challenges him to find new sides of himself, as he does he fixes his relationships with his father, brother, peers, and his teachers. 3 stars. Melody can't walk or talk, but she's smart. Smarter than all the people who diagnose her, smarter than her classmates who dismiss her as retarded. Melody won't be defined by her disease and she's going to let people know, ready or not. 5 stars. ...

My cousin and I were just having a conversation when the topic of WhatsApp statuses came up. My status at the time was, "'Books are uniquely portable magic.'~Stephen King." Our conversation went as follows: Chinmay a.k.a. my cousin (C): I don't read books much anyways. I'd replace books with movies. Me (M): Books are better because it's a unique experience for each person. C: I feel the same about good movies. It gets you thinking. M: Yes, but you and I see the same thing on the screen. In a book you don't, you make it up. C: But... The perspectives are totally different for two diferent individuals. M: So I may focus on details such as color while you focus on say texture. C: Yes... You may appreciate art present in the scene while I may appreciate the screenplay or the background score of the scene. M: But that applies to books too, but in books you get the added bonus of focusing on different details which entails a completely different ...

The second installment in the Hush, Hush  series. Nora Grey has gotten herself a guardian angel but he's been acting anything but angelic, in fact he's been spending time with her arch nemesis Marcie Millar. 3 stars. The third installment in the  Hush, Hush  series. Nora doesn't remember the past 5 months of her life. She tries to get her life back on track but in the back of her mind she keeps seeing things that don't belong in her world. 3 stars. Remy has always known where she stood in a relationship. After all she has learned from her mother who is working on husband number 5. Dexter doesn't fit any of her rules but she can't shake him. Is she finally understanding all those love songs? 3 stars. Note: If you would like a detailed review of any of these books, please comment and I will get it posted as soon as possible.

The 1st wave: Light's Out. After it only darkness remains. The 2nd wave: Surf's Up. Only the lucky ones escape the 2nd wave. The 3rd wave: The Pestilence. The unlucky ones are the ones that survive it. The 4th wave: The Silencers. After it only one rule applies: trust no one and you'll stay alive. It's the dawn of the 5th wave and Cassie is running from Them. She knows that trusting someone means death because They look human but They aren't. Cassies believes that staying alone is staying alive, until she meets Evan Walker. Evan might be Cassie's only hope but is she ready to risk her life and trust him? The 5th Wave  had caught my eye almost 2 years ago. It looked very interesting and I wanted to read it but I was reading so many other books that I didn't have the time to grab The 5th Wave . I finally had time to get and read it. It was a great read. Rick Yancy is a really good writer, the writing gods have really gifted him. He knows how to creat...

One of them writes the words, the other lives them. Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel. Arriving in New York she gets impostor syndrome. Lizzie survives a terrorist attack by thinking herself into the 'Afterworld,' a place between the living and dead. She discovers unresolved stories. 4 stars. Do I dare disturb the universe?  Jerry Renault decides he does when he refuses to sell chocolates for his school fundraiser. On top of that he challenges a secret school society called the Vigils, turning his actions, the actions of war. 3 stars. Greg Heffly and his family hit the road for an 'awesome' road trip. 3 stars. Note: If you would like a detailed review of any of these books, please comment and I will get it posted as soon as possible.

The seven members of the Argo II  have made progress in their quests to defeat Gaea but haven't quite gotten there. Gaea has plans for them and needs two of them to help her rise. They must make choices that will lead to many sacrifices, if they don't the destruction of both their camps is imminent. Gaea must also be stopped, because if she awakens the game is over. The conclusion the Heroes of Olympus series and the last time the readers will meet Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, the thrilling finale. All in all it was a good book. But, and this is a big but, it could have been an amazing book. So here's why it was a good book and not an amazing book. I didn't like the ending. Okay well, I liked some of the ending but not all of it. I felt like it ended too abruptly. Come on, Rick Riordan, this is the last book in the series, never mind that we will never get to meet some of these characters ever again. I'm very glad you didn't go all Veronica Roth on u...

People always say, "Great minds think alike." Nate Wright figures this is the reason no one around him thinks the way he does, he's the only great mind around. 2 stars. Illeni lost everything when she lost her magic: her place in society, her purpose, her love. When the Elders send her to teach magic to the assassins she goes willingly, even though the last two tutors died mysteriously. But not all is as it seems in the assassins' cave. 3 stars. Mira's past is shrouded in secrecy and she has been forbidden to visit her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Mira runs away to Beau Rivage to discover that things aren't what they seem like. Fairy tales come to life, and curses are awakened. But the fairy tale aren't always pretty, and Mira has a fairy tale of her own. 4 stars. My Review Ava has been pushed around by men all her life, but when a mistake needs her to escape her spaceship and go to Earth, she has to learn to fight for herself and take her fa...

Three years ago, Allison mysteriously disappeared after a slumber party, and hasn't been seen since. Her friends mourned her, but also breathed secret sighs of relief because each of them guarded a secret that only Allison knew, and with her gone their secrets were safe. Now they have even bigger secrets that destroy them in the gossip hungry world that thy live in. When they begin receiving anonymous emails and texts hinting at their secrets they begin to panic. Are they being betrayed by someone in their circle? Or worse, is Allison back? I, unfortunately, judged Pretty Little Liars  by it's cover as well as the people who read it, and I apologize for doing so. Because I not only missed the opportunity of reading an amazing book earlier as well as created opinions about people that were very misinformed and misconceived. I thought that Pretty Little Liars  would be the sob story of two or three privileged teenage girls who didn't get...

The story of Whittington who arrives at a barn full of rescued animals asking for a place there. He begins to tell them the story of his ancestor and her master, Dick Whittington. A beautiful story about the transcendent power of story-telling. 4 stars. Note: If you would like a detailed review of any of these books, please comment and I will get it posted as soon as possible.

Before.  Miles "Pudge" Halter is obsessed with last words. This obsession combined with the fact that his entire life is a non-event, is making him crave the "Great Perhaps." He heads to the crazy, unstable and anything but boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School in search of his "Great Perhaps." He meets Alaska Young, a gorgeous, clever, sexy, screwed up, and utterly fascinating girl who is an event herself. She takes Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. After.  Nothing is ever the same. Reading any John Green book is a learning experience. In An Abundance of Katherines  its math. In The Fault In Our Stars  its the philosophical musings of two dying teenagers. In Looking For Alaska  its last words and what happens after death. I liked Looking For Alaska  but it wasn't as good as The Fault In Our Stars  or An Abundance of Katherines . I don't know if it is because John Green evolved as a wri...

Kate, Michael and Emma have moved from orphanage to orphanage, for the last ten years. They are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. They are being protected from an evil, an evil they know nothing about. Until now. 3 stars. Note: If you would like a detailed review of any of these books, please comment and I will get it posted as soon as possible.

Saleem Sinai was born at the stroke of midnight, at the precise moment of India's independence, he was born special. He is one of the 1,001 children born in the midnight hour of India's independence, children who have been bestowed special gifts, children who Saleem is connected to telepathically. But, there has been a mix up at birth and Saleem's life take twists and turns. He grows amidst disasters and triumphs he realizes that his fate is inexplicably connected to the fate of his country. Every one of his actions is mirrored and magnified to shape the newborn country India. It is a terrible curse, and a great blessing.  The blurb of Midnight's Children  made it sound like a really cool book. It wasn't. It was quite boring. It took me three months and two days to read it. Those of you who know me well, will realize that three months and two days is too much for me to read a six hundred forty-seven page book. I read a eight hundred forty-nine page book in...

A plane crash on an uninhabited island results in a group of boys creating a group and having fun. But slowly their social behavior starts to change into something more primal. 4 stars. Note: If you would like a detailed review of any of these books, please comment and I will get it posted as soon as possible.